Freshfields promotes 20 to partnership globally

Nine of the new partners will join the firm's London office, while the remaining 11 promotions are spread across the firm's Brussels, Amsterdam, Duesseldorf, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne, Moscow, Milan, Paris and Middle East and North Africa offices, which gain one new partner apiece, with the exception of Frankfurt which receives two.

Freshfields senior partner Will Lawes said: "All of our promotions are based on practice area need and we feel that this number of promotions is a suitable size to ensure a steady flow of new partners are always coming through the firm.

"Obviously we are disappointed that there were not more women in this round, and it is something we are trying to address to attract more women into the partnership.”